US Can't Yet Compete With China In EV Production - Ford Chairman

Ford echoed comments from other top automotive executives regarding China's dominance in EV manufacturing in an interview with CNN's Fareed Zakaria GPS Sunday programme. “They developed very quickly, and they’ve developed them in large scale, and now they are exporting,” 

“They are not here, but they will come here we think at some point and we need to be ready, and we’re getting ready,” Ford said in the interview. Jim Farley, the CEO of Ford, stated in May that Ford's primary segment rivals are Chinese EV manufacturers and that in order to succeed, Ford would need to have a distinctive brand or lower costs. "I think we see the Chinese as the main competitor, not GM or Toyota. The Chinese are going to be the powerhouse," Farley said. Ford is attempting to leverage China's well-established EV industry chain in order to accelerate its electrification transformation.

Ford announced on February 13 that it will spend $3.5 billion to construct a lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery plant in Marshall, Michigan. It will introduce LFP battery solutions for Ford's EV products and is the first battery plant in the US that is entirely owned by an automaker. Ford will notably employ technology supplied by Chinese power battery juggernaut CATL. According to a new agreement between Ford and CATL, which will support the LFP battery plant's production with technical and service support, Ford engineers will work on cell and vehicle integration.

Ford seems to be reducing its electrification efforts in China after its initial efforts didn't produce the desired results. The Mustang Mach-E team would be reintegrated into Ford China as a result of organisational changes that Ford was reportedly making earlier this month, and the separate entity in charge of the programme would eventually be written off.